Suppression of foam generated in using hydrocarbon oils is of major importance, additives in small effective amounts in such oils being widely used for this purpose. Customary additives are the acrylate polymers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,166,508 to Fields. As is noted there, other additives in such oils used to improve oil-related performance can aggravate the tendency to foam, and a continuing need exists to inhibit such undesirable foaming over a wide range of use conditions, particularly in new hydrocarbon oil formulations. Foam-reducing agents comprising fluorine-containing acrylate copolymers with longer-chain fluorinated alkyl acrylates as comonomers as have been known, i. a. from EP 1 029 030 B1. As there is a concern regarding the bio-accumulation of longer-chain fluorinated compounds, such as those comprising perfluoro octyl moieties, there is a need to provide anti-foaming agents that do not exhibit similar bio-accumulation.